LANSING, MICH. — Two Marquette County Democrats have filed the necessary paperwork to run in the special election for the late John Kivela’s seat.

Sara Cambensy and Joe Derocha are the first two candidates to officially run in the 109th special election. Cambensy is a Marquette City Commissioner and is the Director of Adult and Community Education and Kaufman Auditorium, for Marquette Area Public Schools.

Derocha represents District 2 on the Marquette County Board of Commissioners. Before that, he was the Humboldt Township Supervisor.

The special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of Kivela’s term will be held August 8th, 2017. The general election takes place November 7th, 2017.

Candidates running in the special election need to file paperwork by June 6th, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. in order to be on the primary ballot.

“My top priority is bringing the voice of the people of the 109th district to Lansing, where too many special interests have the attention of legislators at the expense of local needs. Small businesses, local governments and citizens in the district are not getting a fair return on taxes paid. Quality of life is negatively affected by tax giveaways, denying local governments and schools of the money they need to provide basic services to their communities,” Cambensy said.

“I will continue to pursue legislation that promote economic development that will provides high-quality jobs throughout the Upper Peninsula, work on energy policies that will stabilize Energy rates, increase School funding programs including career technical education,” said Derocha.

Both candidates are looking to win the seat vacated by John Kivela, who passed away May 9th.